Girty Hubbles

[Mikkel Delling]

Mikkel would be lying if he denied anxiety, but it was not like he was trembling in his chestnut vegetable tan boots. The Norwegian professor had stayed up all night drafting and revising lesson plans for his first ever student, but in the end he had come into the classroom with nothing but his wand and the barest writing materials.

When people were agitated, they were often portrayed pacing up and down a flat length of about 10 meters. Not Mikkel though, for he preferred to work off his agitation by transforming things from one thing to another, then back again. His helpless victims for the day were the leaves of the great oak that stood outside his classroom window. At its base were the squashed remains of fruit that he had made, ignorant of their weight and the strength of the leaves' stem.

Most teachers begin the lesson by sitting at the front of class in their animal form, waiting for their students. But this girl is probably beyond that, considering what I've heard of her so far ... Dammit, if I only I'd found more about her, but I'm no auror ...

Alas, he had nothing to vent off, and was fed up with antagonizing the innocent oak, so returned all the leaves to their original form, and went to sit at one of the pupil desks in the front row.

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty walked slowly down the corridor towards the classroom she had got the note from the Professor saying that her tutoring would began that very day. Everything around her seemed deadly silent, although she past many other students, Girty was lost in her own world. She could not help but feel nervous and as she stood out side the door into the room her heart began to beat faster and faster.

With a light knock Girty pushed open the door not waiting for an answer. As she stepped into the room she saw the Professor sitting on a table near the front of the room. She nodded her head in greeting, unable to actually talk. Her mouth was dry and her throat had closed up. This was the first time Girty was going to met Professor Delling, she had heard no stories about him so was unable to form an impression of what he maybe like.

With a small smile Girty walked closer to him and stood silently clinging onto her bag that was hanging over her shoulder. Girty waited for him to say something to break the silence.

[Mikkel Delling]

At the knock on his door, Mikkel literally froze up and was not even capable of a simple door charm that would allow his student in. Thankfully, she did not wait for an answer, as that would have taken a very long while. The girl that walked in was dark haired, straight browed and had a slightly tanned complexion. Mikkel supposed she was of average height amongst her peers, but as he stands at over six feet tall, his judgment is likely wrong.

She had a nervous smile on her face, and stood idly a few paces away. This kind of silence would have been highly awkward if it were with one of his colleagues, but perhaps it was the environment and the girl’s age that made it not so.

She probably looks more like a professor than I do!

This last thought made Mikkel highly self-conscious of the fact that he was fresh out of college, and this was his first proper student. He knew that he could not allow the silence to drag on for all eternity, and that he would have to break it eventually, so banished the little pessimist in his head and began his lesson.

“Hello …” This is not the time to forget her name! “Girty, pleased to meet you. As you probably know, my name is Mikkel, I mean Professor Delling. Um … please sit.” He said, indicating the seat next to him.

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty gave a small nervous smile as the Professor began to talk and following his orders straight away she looked for the nearest chair and sat down on it quickly. The teacher did not seem very old at all, he did not have the ware and tare on his skin that many of the other teachers had, but his eyes seemed to be full of knowledge and this gave Girty a sense of ease that erased some of the nerves.

“I suppose you have been updated by Deputy Morely, I very much doubt Professor….well, what I mean is that I guess you know the basics about me.”

Girty really did not know what to say, the Professor just seemed to be looking at her almost waiting for her to close her eyes and with out anything said transform. However he did seem nervous too, which did not comfort Girty much, ‘Does he really know what he was doing?’ She moved her gaze off the mans face feeling very awkward all of a sudden.

“So what will we be doing today then Professor?”

[Mikkel Delling]

Mikkel realized that his student was extremely tense and had a good jumble of nerves sparking nervously within. When this dawned on him, Mikkel's own anxiety must have increased threefold, but he knew that this would not help to ease either of them and tried to calm himself by recalling all the tips his own Animagi Professor had told him concerning the introduction of a novice.

"Mikkel," said the Herr in his head, "you've got to look like you know your stuff and make sure your little duckling knows they're in safe hands. No first timer wants to have an amateur as their professor. People can be changed forever due to Animagi accidents! You then calm down yourself and proceed with the lesson."

"First of all, since this is a one-on-one sort of thing, and there's nobody else around to know, I think it's safe to drop the formalities. You can call me Mikkel and I'll call you Girty unless I'm fired up. Don't think that'll happen though, 'cause according to Morely, you're a right bright spark. I want to make this as easy as possible for you, so you must tell me if you've got any problems at all.

Tell me, what do you know about Animagi?"

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty listened closely to what the Professor had to say. He was right there was no one else in the room with them, so she could let her guard down a tiny bit more then she was currently doing. With a deep breath Girty tried to relax, her body did become less tense and her breathing not so rapid, and Mikkle too seemed to be more at ease then before.
“What do I know about Animagi?”

Girty repeat his question almost trying to use it as a prompted to get her mind working, she searched her mind for anything that may hint towards an answer. Biting her lip and frowning Girty wondered about what type of answer did he want. Eventually she decided to try and explain the basics, it had after all been a long time she had even thought about the transforming part.

“Well it is almost an advanced for of Transfiguration, but instead of transforming something you transform yourself, and with out a wand. It is a difficult art to master, with only the most skilled wizards or witches being able to do it. The animal you turn into is significant to you and the markings on the animal are too, whether it represents a pair of glasses you wear or a particular scar. That is what the ministry record when you register, to tell you apart from the other animals. Transforming is difficult, very difficult “

Girty stopped and looked up at the Professor. She could not think of anything else to say, anything that she was sure on. The methods she had been taught before Girty had lost faith in as soon as Faye had disappeared. Girty wanted to learn all over again.